G.J- IA.

(1) Printing-costs. The printing-costs for the year exceeded last year's total by £358. This increase was largely due to the special printing of aviation strip maps, a series of six maps on a scale of 8 miles to an inch produced for the use of aviators. There was a marked decline in the number of 80-chain survey-district maps printed due to the shortage in the stock of lithographic paper. Supplies of this paper have now come to hand and it is hoped that the accumulation of drawings now in the hands of the Government Printer will be considerably reduced. Experimental work in colour printing, preparatory to the publication of the Centennial Atlas, has been successfully carried out by the Department in collaboration with the Government Printing Office. The results of this work will be of great value in the production of military and air training maps, as well as for the Centennial Atlas. (2) Map Sales and Credits. Map sales and credits as illustrated in Tables 1b and lc show a falling off, particularly the sale of maps to the public. This would appear to indicate that the public are not conversant with the types of maps available for all purposes. The institution of a map-sales campaign and the appointment of agencies would greatly assist in popularizing the departmental maps. (3) Lithographic Draughting. (a) Centennial Atlas. —Good progress had been made with the drawing of the final maps for the Centennial Atlas, until the outbreak of the war necessitated the transfer of staff to work of a more urgent nature. A small skeleton staff has been retained to meet the requirements of the research officers of the Internal Affairs Department for the preparation of data tracings and preliminary maps. The decrease in staff, due to enlistments and transfers, will seriously affect the atlas draughting, and it is anticipated that work will have to be held in abeyance pending the return of normal conditions. The following is a schedule of the maps completed to date :— Physical Map of New Zealand. Provincial Map. Geological Map of New Zealand Counties Map. Climatological Maps of New Zealand. Population Maps (in three series). Pacific Explorations. Forestry Maps (in four series). Tasman's Chart. Ten-mile Series of New Zealand (8 drawings). Cook's Chart. City Maps (4 drawings). Post-Cook Navigators. Dependencies of New Zealand. Antarctic Explorations. The World. A considerable amount of preliminary work has been carried out on the economic and historical map series, in respect to fair drawing and preparatory plotting, which in most cases is awaiting the final decision of the Atlas Committee as to the method of representation and layout. Early in the year the Atlas Committee decided that it would be necessary to increase the number of maps required to suitably illustrate the economic and historical series. The consequent research and draughting work entailed has further delayed the proposed date of publication. The supervision entailed in both the research and draughting work has been ably carried out by Mr. R. C. Airey, Inspecting Draughtsman. (b) Special Feature Maps.—The following special feature maps have been completed or are in the course of preparation : — (1) Soil Maps (Hawke's Bay): Draughting assistance was rendered to the Scientific and Industrial Research Department for the production of maps of soil surveys of Hawke's Bay. (2) Pasture Maps (Hawhe's Bay) : Head Office draughting staff has continued with the draughting of special maps to illustrate pastures in parts of the Hawke's Bay District. Three drawings have been completed ready for publication, one of which has been published. These maps are prepared from pasture surveys carried out by the Scientific and Industrial Research Department. (3) Air Training Maps: Maps of selected areas on a scale of 4 miles to an inch are under preparation by the Head Office draughting staff. These maps are for the purpose of training pilots and are being modelled on the Ordnance maps of a similar scale. Aerial Survey Mapping.■ —On the outbreak of the war this branch undertook the preparation of special scale maps for military-training purposes. Mr. J. A. Henderson was transferred from the field-control work in the Hawke's Bay District to plane-table work for the Army Department in the Auckland District. Work on the Hawke's Bay 1-mile-to-the-inch sheets was put aside by the draughting staff, which was increased to meet the demands of the Army Department for these military-training maps.

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